Ski Racing Roundup: Cochrans inducted, CVA profiled, racing videos posted online

Ski Racing Roundup: Cochrans inducted, CVA profiled, racing videos posted onlineSix Skiing Cochrans honored in Vermont

Last week Jimmy Cochran qualified to kick out of the start at the World Cup Opening in Sölden, Austria. But on the day before Cochran’s race, his family’s rich legacy within American ski racing will be the focus of a celebration in Vermont. The Vermont Ski Museum is hosting an event this Saturday called ‘Cochran’s Ski Area: A Family Tradition.’ Following festivities, and an opening of an special exhibition, a half dozen Cochrans will be inducted into the Vermont Ski Museum’s Hall of Fame: Mickey, Ginny, Marilyn, Barbara Ann, Bobby, and Lindy. The program for the event in Stowe is described at the Vermont Ski Museum’s website. For ticket information, please call 802.253.9911 x 201. Meanwhile, to read profiles of the lastest Cochran additions to the U.S. Ski Team roster, click here for Jimmy and here for Jessica Kelly.

Here are some short films to set your pulse racing for the season

The eminent film production house of Jalbert Productions has posted at their website a 90-second preview of ‘In Search of Speed,” its new film about Daron Rahlves and Bode Miller. Several years in the making, the film is a mixture of action, lifestyle and up-close-and-personal shots.

The preview itself is enough to get any ski racer fired up for the season. ‘In the new millennium, two U.S. racers have redefined the world order of alpine racing’ read the words scrolling across the screen as World Cup athletes walk in silhouette against a sunrise. The next 80 seconds are full of big air, chiseled turns, dryland, chairlift rides and podium celebrations going back several years to Miller’s night slalom wins in Italy. But the best moment in the trailer (click here to view it) may come at the 62-second mark, when Rahlves hits the Golden Eagle Jump in Beaver Creek, apparently doing little to minimize his air.

It is without a doubt the coolest online video that the Roundup editors have come across since someone e-mailed us a link to Canadian coach Gord Brown’s website. There, Brown has posted photos showing World Cup downhiller A.J. Bear the Australian injured last season after exploding on the Camel Jumps at Val Gardena doing some of the most insane dryland we’ve ever witnessed. Our favorite of the five streaming videos linked there is ‘Trampoline to Ball.’

Intent to compete forms due this week

The deadline for USSA athletes to send in their Intent to Compete forms for the early season NorAms is upon us. Male alpine athletes hoping to compete in the Jackson Hole NorAm slaloms November 21-22 and female alpine athletes hoping to win a start position for the Winter Park NorAms November 30-December 3 need to inform their divisional or regional supervisors national office right away.

SKI Magazine runs feature story on Carrabassett Valley Academy

A feature article in the latest SKI Magazine describes life at Carrabassett Valley Academy, the Maine school that has gained a higher profile in recent years because of the recent Olympic and World Championship success of two alums Chevrolet/Ski Racing Skiers of the Year Kirsten Clark and Bode Miller.

The story by Austin Bunn is available online. It reflects positively upon the sport, demonstrating the self-discipline and enthusiasm of junior racers, while addressing the sacrifices their families make to support them, financially and otherwise. The central personality of the story is Liz Thompson, Maine resident. The author deals tactfully and humorously with questions like dating and discipline, and doesn’t fail to mention one of CVA’s most charming qualities: the fact that the central building of the campus was a cheap motel in the 1970s.

Ski Racing, which ran a profile of one CVA coach last winter, has some careful and loyal readers, and as they are wont to do with Ski Racing’s content, they have scanned the SKI story for mistakes and misrepresentations. One parent of a U.S. Ski Team athlete challenged a quote by a coach that ‘you can’t just go to public high school in the East and race’ pointing out that his own child had gone to a public school, along with several of her teammates.

Schleper and others getting treatment from Vail clinics

Sarah Schleper, who is sitting out the first World Cup of the season (this Saturday in Sölden, Austria) is at home in Vail, letting her aggravated back recover from injury. Schleper, who was ranked 17th in the world in giant slalom last season’s World Cup points list, is flying to Chicago each month for therapy. A recent story in the Vail Daily describes the Vail-based clinics that supply the U.S. Ski Team with many of it’s physiologists.

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Previous Ski Racing Roundups:

INTERNATIONAL, September 15, 2004

DOMESTIC, September 28, 2004

NORDIC, September 29, 2004

INTERNATIONAL, September 30, 2004

DOMESTIC, October 5, 2004

NORDIC, October 6, 2004

INTERNATIONAL, October 7, 2004

DOMESTIC, October 12, 2004

NORDIC, October 13, 2004

INTERNATIONAL, October 14, 2004